This invention relates generally to airfoils, and, more particularly, to an expandable airfoil, having a movable control surface, which can be temporarily attached to any airborne body such as a missile stage or air drop payload which requires controlled flight.
In many instances it is desirable to recover, intact, an airborne vehicle or body which has been dropped from space or high altitude. For example, under certain circumstances it is necessary to retrieve a depleted missile strength for inspection or reuse at a future time. In addition, in many instances in the air dropping of payloads it is also necessary to not only control the flight of the payload but also recover the payload for subsequent use. Furthermore, it may be desirable to have the airfoil structure retract against the fuselage of a tube launched missile prior to controlled guidance of the missile.
It is uneconomical to construct all such missile stages, air drop payloads and/or other such airborne vehicles with airfoils if, in fact, in some instances controlled landings are unnecessary. It therefore would be extremely desirable to provide attachable airfoils for appropriate utilization so as to provide controlled flight to airborne vehicles of the type set forth hereinabove. Additionally, it would be even more desirable to be able to reuse the airfoil for subsequent controlled landings. Unfortunately, a reliable, expandable, attachable airfoil having a movable control surface is currently unavailable.